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Changing Planet: Rising Sea Level

As the Earth's atmosphere warms due to rising levels of greenhouse gases, our oceans are warming also. The rising temperature of the atmosphere also leads to melting of ice in the cryosphere. Melting water from land-based glaciers and ice sheets eventually makes its way into the ocean, gradually raising the sea level globally. Depending on how quickly the ice melts because of global warming, this sea level rise may be relatively gradual (about a meter over a century) or may increase more dramatically, if substantial land-based glaciers near the ocean are suddenly destablized and release their water to the ocean more quickly.

Click on the video at the left to watch the NBC Learn video - Changing Planet: Rising Sea Level

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